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The Sapphire Order
The Sapphire Order were an extremist sect of the Vatic over two hundred years ago that used to use something called the Pillar of Purity to 'burn' the sins out of people, until they were brought down by a rebellious group led by Aolla of Ranadon. 'History' After the Anti-paladin’s shook Hilsyren to the core of its beliefs, and they couldn’t even blame Ranadon for ousting its churches, the Vatic felt something severely needed to be done to prevent something like this ever happening again. The Quest for the Black Lake had failed, and it may have even provoked the rise of evil. Coupled with the fact they wouldn’t even know what they would do with it if they did find it, it was decided a special order would be established to deal with the problem in a preventative way. Antiok was home to many theologists, one such group had found out something very strange while analysing the waters of the Lake. Under strict purification rituals and magic, the holy waters of the lake would burn people of an evil nature like it would usually do on certain undead and fiends. When this substance was crystallised it could even glow on detection of such evil. Known as retributive sapphire, the theologists who designed it were chosen to develop it further as way to detect the otherwise undetectable anti-paladins. They named themselves the Sapphire Order. Without any actual anti-paladins to detect, their discoveries were only theories at this point, but the head of this order, Becksin Cainor believed a preventative measure could be utilised with another spell he had developed, Sense Sin. This spell could not only detect the presence of one of the Seven Deadly Sins in action, but also the trace of it in a person. Becksin believed that it was though the committing of all of these seven sins that one would lead down the path of the anti-paladin. It made sense as a similar method, using the Seven Heavenly Virtues, was believed to lead to the creation of a holy paladin (though this has now been debunked, as it was his predecessors who developed it), so it was accepted. By infusing the retributive sapphire with this Sense Sin spell* a substance was created that could sense and eliminate the very sins from people. * this spell has since been abolished Possibly in fear of the anti-paladin threat returning, the use of this substance was allowed by the Vatic and a great monolith of it was built and named the Pillar of Purity. After a few initial tests where it seemed to actually work, it was thought they had created a vaccination against evil and the pillar was taken to the most travelled part of the land, Monk More (to become Lemnor) in 520 QC, where all citizens committed of any crime were forced to be brought before it. These small steps seemed to be making a difference; crime and infractions against the Ethos were at an all time low and church attendance at an all time high. With these figures the Vatic agreed to Becksin Cainor’s request for the pillar to be taken on a tour of the Low Lands in what would become known as the Tour of Woe, because unknown (according to them) to the Vatic, the Pillar did more than ‘burn on the sins’ from people; it stopped them from having any association from or with the emotions or functions of the sin at all. Those who had the sin of Wrath would never fight back and be as a placid as a lamb to even the most violent threats, those who had the sin of Lust, felt no desire to copulate at all again, and thus would bare no children, those who had the sin of Envy would want for nothing anymore and feel no reason to work, and those who felt the sin on Gluttony would not ever feel the need to eat again, even though their body did and they would slowly starve to death as their family begged for them to have one bite of bread. Becksin kept this hidden from the Vatic somehow, and went on his tour with the people in terror. While upon the Gold Coast in a rainy autumn of 521 QC they ran into Ranadon relief workers who rallied against not only the inhumanity of what they were doing, but they fact that just because they were from the church, people went up to them like cattle to be slaughtered. The biggest out-speaker was Aolla Augard of Ranadon, who tried to rally the people enough so the Vatic would notice, but somehow this got translated as the rebellious county’s latest revolt against the holy land and another strict retaliation was dealt to them, this time undeserving and now with the Sapphire Order in charge of the process. The Order grew in size and number, having multiple divisions and having Staves of Purity handed out to the Puritors that headed each sect. It came to the point when in the Low Lands, the Sapphire Order was the church. Finally in 522 QC when Ranadon’s fake rebellion had become a real one, and terrified citizens of Hilsyren had even fled to their county for protection from becoming zombies, members of the real laity had more than concerns, and tried to go confront the Vatic directly only to find that Becksin had already planned for this. He had told the Vatic that the actions they were doing among the Low Lands was nearly at a point of completion and now those who had avoided the Pillar yet had the darkness within them and would be worming their way to the surface to stop what was happening, namely the clergy themselves. Becksin asked for a special task force of clerics to deal with internal matters, much like the wizards had the Arcavists (specifically the 5th sect), but not only would they be allowed special privileges, they would be secret too. He stated the reason were two fold; one, so that the common people didn’t have a reason to doubt the church; and two, so that the clerics who were corrupted wouldn’t not only know to hide, but expose themselves so that this special force could eliminate them. And thus the weary Vatic agreed and sanctioned the special order, of no holds barred, secret cleric-killing clerics known as the Elusives. There was no stopping the Sapphire Order now, all who dared complain simply disappeared, by a force with unlimited funds from the Vatic Treasury and seemed to be everywhere at once; the people had no option but take on this penance of the Pillar even for the smallest infractions, and the local lords of each county were no exception to the rule of the Pillar, and the current First Lord was away a lot in Eyshabreen (it is thought that the machinations of the Order manipulated him into doing this, but this is unconfirmed) and no one but the people would stand up to stop them. This led to the creation of the so called “Eighth Sin”. Insisting they needed more leeway, the already malleable Vatic at the time, agreed to upping the level of their influence, and by Holy Decree created a new sin that the Order could use to locate and eradicate the enemy in the hearts of the people; Rebellion. With this officially sanctioned new sin, people could be dragged from their houses by the Order and put before the Pillar, often leading to other sins getting burned out, which was only seen as a bonus, for those who had too many sins it seemed they would simply burn to ashes should they be too burdened. By the turn of 523 QC the Order had gotten too cocky, or maybe too thinly spread but Aolla had worked his rebels into the heard of their operation and with some feat of magic now attributed to being one of his great miracles, was confronted with the Pillar and withstood its power. This act of impossibility brought out the head of the order himself, and Becksin Cainor came to confront the leader of the rebels and see why his all mighty Pillar wasn’t working on some who it should have been at its highest strength for. Somehow Aolla convinced Becksin that he needed to give him a public execution so all could see and some how this appealed to him; all the while his fellow rebels headed to the Vatics headquarters to try and bring the head of the church to confront these actions with his own eyes, even if it would cost Aolla his life. The rebels using months of planning managed to actually kidnap the Vatic and were close to getting him out of the city when the Elusives struck. Just days before though and young non-magical clerk or the record keeping type had noticed certain funds missing from the Vatic Treasure of sizable among. When he started to investigate the mystery he was told to leave it alone, but something drove him on (some say it was the Ethos) to delve further and this is where he discovered the expenses of the Elusives, and what they were being used for – torture equipment, arcane stealth magic devices as well as poisons and crossbows. His initial instinct was to tell someone but again he decided to wait until he knew more, and it was while sneaking about in the under belly of the city that he stumbled upon the rebels and the kidnapped Vatic being hounded by the Elusives. Knowing these catacombs in credibly well (he used to be a cataloguer of the dead) he led them out though a set of caves that went on for miles and eluded the Elusives. Not prepared for this though they had not the light source to last such long, but somehow this simple record keepers torch lasted six weeks before they come out in Shaden Vale. This was the first miracle of Saint Aiden of the Ethos. The Vatic was forced to witness the terror bestowed upon the people of the land and though he was too late to witness the execution of Aolla, upon finding his body brought him back to life and asked of him to make things right. Together Aiden and Aolla found Becksin Cainor, who claimed all he was doing was for the right of the land, but when brought before the Vatic surrendered himself. Possibly knowing that they would never execute him, and that his people would try and free him, Becksin Cainor thought he was scot free, but he didn’t know the Vatic’s secret; a mysterious island with bizarre properties just off the coast of Hilsyren. Through methods still kept secret to this day, Becksin Cainor was exiled there and the Sapphire Order was abolished. When Silvid Padomar II finally came back from his false crusade, he realised he had not been dutiful to the land and it had suffered. Both he and the Vatic retired that year, passing on their duties to new and fresh leaders. Most notably Silvid passed the duties of First Lord to his son Illium, who with the help of Aolla of Ranadon, led Hilsyren into one of the greatest eras of peace and prosperity it had ever or ever has seen. Aollo was tasked with destroying the Pillar, but knowing that it had been made from pure goodness and then simply filtered seven-fold, saw it as a sign of too much piety and zealousness. Studying at Antiok after discovering he was a paladin, he had the Pillar taken to San Serolla where the clerics train over the Canyon of Dreams, and modified it to only detect what he called the ‘Ninth Sin’ Zeal. For ever his ‘blue arch’ would sense the blind zealousness in all who trained there, and wean it out at an early stage. He changed the way all paladins train in his later years and would go on to have many more adventures becoming not only one of the many famous paladins of the land, but also in time, a Saint of great respect. Aiden after helping with some clerical matters, took to the cloth despite initial trepidation and faded into obscurity in a little valley solving mysteries until he disappeared. In that valley they still worship him as a saint. After this there was another incident or two with a an anti-paladin, most notably the one who used the hand of Lichfield to raise the dead of Lemnor’s necropolis, but Aolla and Jarendor put an end to their actions, but it was decided the threat of another anti-paladin attack was far outweighed by the rise of something like the Order again. Though the Sapphire Order changed the way the Vatic was perceived and then how it would act in the future, it was driven out entirely in a few short years, that is except for the Elusives, who no trace of was ever found, even Aiden’s initial Treasury discrepancy was lost. It is as if they never existed, exactly the way they were designed to be… 'Addendum' Over 36 years after his exile, Becksin Cainor found a way to overcome the power of the island and though not escape, harness it somehow and threaten Hilsyren. An elderly Aollo went to face him and, though the threat ended, neither were ever seen again. This incident didn’t really have anything to do with the Sapphire Order, just Becksin, but it raises many questions, about who was maybe behind all this. Surprisingly the Vatic have not been eager to blame the rise of the Sapphire Order on an outside force like many others have theorised. While many say it was the effects of the Black Lake and the Mythos again, or maybe even an early attempt of corruption by the drow, the Vatic have no intention of trying to shirk this one off on a scapegoat. They fully acknowledge it was very likely the actions of a will taken too far, though they do like to point out that in the latter parts of his days, Becksin Cainor was no longer a divine caster but a manipulator of celestial forces in the same way a wizard does, and is possibly how he eventually, after years on Woman's Isle, harnessed its power. This is also another arrow in their bow in their arguments against wizards. After this they stopped the theologists programs, they say, ‘to know the Ethos is not to study it, but to let it teach you and to listen,’ and that some things must be kept sacred. To handle that much power without a moral force to guide you is also what leads to such travesty and they fear that this will - or has in small instances quashed by the Vatic – happen to Arcanville, but as it remains to have the support from the First Lord there is little they can do. Its also interesting to not that after this period the Vatic put less focus on the Seven Deadly Sins being the route of all evil, and tried instead to promote the Seven Heavenly Virtues. See Saint Aolla, Saint Aiden, The Vatic and Womans Isle for more detilas 'Timeline' 502 QC: Warriors of Adeline came to Hilsyren to defeat the demon dragon Tanargmere. It was looking for the Black Lake of the Mythos 506 QC: Apron 28th is the Night of the Unborn. Veidnik Rah is knighted in Lessin by Silvid Padomar II 507 QC: A quest for the Black Lake is commissioned, the trusted paladin Jaelyst is sent AGE OF ORDER (11th) 513 QC: Rise of the Anti-paladin 516 QC: Dragon Rage Wars ends, Lanasail lower dungeons sealed for good, after they were used by the Antipaladin in a scheme 518 QC: The priest Merillian uncovered the anti paladin plot to the whole country after years of suspicion. 519 QC: The Sapphire Order is established. It is unknown whether this is the influence of the antipaladin. 520 QC: The Pillar of Purity taken to Monk More 521 QC: The Pillar of Purity taken on its tour of the Low Lands of Hilsyren, people rebel, Ranadon blamed 522 QC: Ranadon actively fights the Vatic and takes on asylum seekers 523 QC: Aolla brings down the Sapphire Order and joins Antiok as a paladin after the Pillar of Purity is destroyed 530 QC: Aiden of the Ethos explores the land trying to find truths of the Ethos after the dark time of the Sapphire Order 539 QC: Anti-paladin uses hand of Lichfield to raise Lemnor necropolis, defeated by Aolla. Jarenador storms Ulmade castle, anti-paladins base, only to nearly die 559 QC: Old master of the Sapphire Order rises up from his exile in Woman and Aolla goes to battle him, neither is heard from again 574 QC: Dwarf Procession help clean up after the anti-paladin and Sapphire Order